English Official Language GA

Posted by D.A. King, 12/16/15, Toward official English in the Peach State

Ask your state senator: Does he plan on co-sponsoring SR 675 ?

Readers should be asking their state Senators if they plan on co-sponsoring Senator Josh McKoon’s legislation aimed at allowing We The People to vote on amending the state constitution to make English the official language of government in the Peach State.

McKoon has filed his legislation, SR 675, to allow voters the opportunity to ratify an amendment to the state constitution making English the official language of government. Hooray Senator McKoon!

A Rosetta Stone poll from last week shows what most of us already know: A huge majority of us ( 76% ) favor English as our constitutional official language. See the poll question here. McKoon’s press release is pretty self-explanatory. We hope you will read it. Below, we post the proposed November, 2016 ballot question in SR 675.

“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to provide that English is the official language of the State of Georgia?”
“( ) YES
( ) NO
All persons desiring to vote in favor of ratifying the proposed amendment shall vote “Yes.”
All persons desiring to vote against ratifying the proposed amendment shall vote “No.”

If such amendment shall be ratified as provided in said Paragraph of the Constitution, it shall become a part of the Constitution of this state.”

What must happen before voters see this ballot question when they vote for president in November? Here’s what: The Republican-controlled General Assembly must pass SR 675 by a two thirds majority in each chamber– which the Republican state Senate already has in place. Translation: The Georgia Senate has enough Republicans to pass this without any Democrat votes.

On the state House side, of 180 members, currently 118 members are Republicans, 61 are Democrats and there is one Independent with one seat vacant pending a special election in District 58. By my math, the needed two-thirds majority is 120 votes to pass SR 375 in the Republican controlled House…in an election year.

Before the anti-English lobby crazies get cranked up, let’s make it clear that it’s not “English only.” It’s English as official, amigos.  We can still say “Villa Rica” “arrivederchi” and “oy vey!”  But ratification by the voters would result in ending the loony practice of giving our written drivers’ license test in eleven languages. Si?  Dak

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